Matthew D
A spooky silent classic with cool blue nighttime and haunting ghostly effects for the carriage.
Swedish director Victor Sjöström's Swedish silent horror drama fantasy film The Phantom Carriage (1921) is an old masterpiece of eerie imagery, moving storytelling, and haunting filmmaking. Sjöström's directorial craftsmanship is impeccable. He'll use cascades of fog enshrouding or a bit of light in the dead of night to barely illuminate someone against the darkness. The Phantom Carriage looks frightful as it pulls up like a spector in the night. The see-through carriage, dead horses, and bound reaper with scythe looking translucent to the eye against the stunning blue lighting for night is amazing.
I love Sjöström's sullen characters dealing with their potential fate. The way a clock face will be the only visible thing at night or human faces cast in shadows is breathtaking. I appreciate Sjöström focusing the story on the living characters and their inner sorrows.
Sjöström directed Sweden's first great silent film classic and even starred in The Phantom Carriage himself. The Phantom Carriage famously inspired Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman to start directing and I've always found it cool that he cast Victor Sjöström as the elderly hero of one of my favorite Bergman films: Wild Strawberries. The Phantom Carriage is very touching and imaginative with careful storytelling and unforgettable imagery.
Writer Victor Sjöström adapts the original author Selma Lagerlöf's spooky tale with gleeful jokes, depressed characters, dying souls, belligerent alcoholics all as a sympathetic warning. You don't want to be the last to die at midnight on New Year's Eve, otherwise you'll be doomed to drive The Phantom Carriage as the New Year's grim reaper yourself. Having souls rise from their body to be collected by The Phantom Carriage is a jaw-dropping image. It's a sad comfort to think the next dead man is relieving the former reaper.
Editor Eugen Hellman uses sharp cuts to really jar you with scary images that linger in your mind. The slow fade in and out in black and particularly effective. The way the carriage will suddenly appear is freaky. I felt engrossed for all 107 minutes of The Phantom Carriage.
Cinematographer Julius Jaenzon's striking blue filter over the camera for nighttime and sepia tones for interiors is quite formidable filmmaking. I love all the careful wide shots that show dead bodies with their spirit being lifted up out of them. Holding the camera frames very still makes each shot look precise and gripping. There is no visual escape from the terror. Art directors Axel Esbensen and Alexander Bako use the shadowy and blue lighting to make Sweden look extremely dreary and isolated. The way The Phantom Carriage can appear over water or hills with a transparent appearance is especially haunting.
Victor Sjöström is excellent as the jolly alcoholic David Holm, who is doomed to become the next grim reaper riding The Phantom Carriage to harvest the souls of the dead. Sjöström plays up the fear and guilt of his character who has wasted his living life on drinking in squalor. He can be the pathetic drunkard and miserable wastrel with a realistic portrayal of being ashamed of himself. I certainly felt bad for Sjöström's David Holm.
Hilda Borgström is very fun as the loving wife Anna Holm, now in despair. Tore Svennberg is brilliant as the once jovial man Georges, now lost in ruination and forlorn despair as the former reaper of souls. Astrid Holm is gorgeous and sweet as the caring Sister Edit, who is only concerned for David Holm's soul rather than her own dying life. She looks strikingly comparable to Swedish pop star Tove Lo. Concordia Selander looks distraught as poor Edit's devastated mother.
Einar Axelsson looks gaunt and pathetic as David's likewise alcoholic brother who killed a man in a drunken stupor. Nils Aréhn's serious prison chaplain is intriguing, especially when he desires David Holm to change his ways and even serve his brother's sentence out of guilt. Olof Ås is creepy with his slow shambling as The First Driver before Georges dies and takes his sunken place. Tor Weijden is good as the upset Gustafsson, who seeks out David Holm in the beginning.
The new melancholic film score on the Criterion blu-ray of The Phantom Carriage is marvelous with somber piano melodies, sad horns, and plucky strings. It fits the shadowy shifting tone of Sjöström's picture The Phantom Carriage with massive intensity to ominous foreboding.
In all, The Phantom Carriage is enthralling and really cool for 1921, even before Nosferatu!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/11/23
Full Review
Emmett H
Beautifully filmed, this masterpiece of silent cinema will grab you at the start and never et go. Touching, painful, and, at times, scary, this film will not be forgotten.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/11/23
Full Review
Alexander B
It is really ahead of its time but hasn't aged well. The special effects are very outdated and it's really slow. But the story line is really clever for the time it came out.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Simple: but simply scary
This movie was great and mimics the state of fear which enveloped the world during the pandemic. It's about tuberculosis but manages to dwell in the legends of history such as the Grim Reaper. It's a little too simple for my taste, but still holds a lot of weight. The police who keep barging out of doorframes are interesting because they appear out of nowhere. The acting is wildly dramatic for being a silent film. I enjoyed this movie. Its undertones are disturbing. I usually hate coloring effects in older, silent films, but this one did alright. The colors worked well to accompany the dark lighting.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
dave s
A century after it was released, The Phantom Carriage is one of a small handful of silent films that still packs a punch. When a sickly drunkard dies at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, he is confronted by Death's assistant, a ghostly carriage driver assigned to collect the souls of the dead, and forced to reflect on the impact his poor behavior has had on those around him. For its time, the cinematography is beautiful, each shot perfectly framed and infused with an eerie tint. The acting is surprisingly restrained for a silent film, the sets are great, the lighting is effective, the special effects are impressive for the time period, and the multi-layered story never fails to hold the attention of the viewer. Even those who are leery about silent films should give The Phantom Carriage a shot.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Christopher B
Technically brilliant and filmed remarkably well, it's shocking that this was made in 1921. 90 year later the transfer to Blu-ray by Criterion is amazing and really adds amazing detail and clarity never before seen in previous releases. The film itself is a wonderful age old tale of morality and turning one's life around before it is too late. What a beautiful and inspiring piece of cinema. The use of double exposure and the wonderful atmosphere really enhance the moodiness of the film. Not just a horror film, but one that tells the morality of man, what is right and wrong and that life is short and will end for everyone are all potent topics in The Phantom Carriage. No wonder it inspired Bergman to become a film director, as he watched it dozens of times! Victor Sjöstrom gives a solid performance as he both directs and stars in the film and indeed you get a true feeling of his regret of a life poorly lived and how it affected all those around him. It's up to him whether he can use his fleeting spiritually time to bring him salvation, but it means sacrificing a lot. Highly Recommended!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/23/22
Full Review
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